DPLA Service Hubs in single states around the country have often worked with cultural heritage institutions physically located within 50 or 100 miles of the Hub. What happens when digitization and aggregation must be provided across the larger regions and states in the West? This session looks at issues that have emerged as collaboration is stretched across hundreds of miles, different cultures, and topographical impediments. Existing and potential new Service Hubs in the West are working towards responding to these challenges by discovering different models for collaboration -- in service provision, funding, and governance.
Join us as we hear about Service Hub developments in the West. Sandra McIntyre will talk about supporting libraries, archives, and museums in six states with digitization and aggregation services via the Mountain West Digital Library (MWDL), one of the initial Service Hubs in DPLA. She will describe the recent sustainability planning and governance re-structuring that MWDL has accomplished to accommodate the needs of a large region. Jodi Allison-Bunnell will describe work toward Service Hub formation in the Pacific Northwest, in the absence of the central (state or large institution) that is often the cornerstone of other Hubs. Adrian Turner will highlight a planning initiative underway in California, supported through LSTA funding administered by the California State Library, to formulate a blueprint for a potential Service Hub constituting a collaborative of multiple organizations. The panel will conclude with a discussion of ideas for completing the DPLA Service Hubs map in the West and bringing the rest of the West on board the national digital platform.
